Cities across the US have torn down these controversial Confederate monuments

State Police keep a handful of Confederate protesters separated from counter demonstrators in front of the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. Steve Helber/AP This February marks six months since a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia turned violent. One counter-protester, Heather Heyer, died and dozens more sustained injuries after a driver plowed into a crowd.

Heyer's homicide reinvigorated a national conversation about the role of Confederate statues, memorials, and plaques in public spaces. According to a recent study by the Southern Poverty Law Center, over 1,500 symbols of the Confederacy stand in public places in the US.

Since the Charlottesville incident, more than two dozen cities have removed Civil War-era monuments from plazas, parks, and government buildings or are considering such proposals. Officials from these cities argue that Confederate iconography encourages a revisionist history of the Civil War, during which Confederate states fought for the right to maintain slavery.

The movement to rid streets of these monuments may be just starting. Here are 9 cities that have already done away with them.

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Annapolis, Maryland

A statue of Roger Taney at the Maryland State House.
Eric Baradat/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The Confederate figure: Roger Taney, a Supreme Court Justice who passed the 1857 Dred Scott Decision, which ruled that black Americans should not be considered American citizens.

New York, New York

What happened: In August, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a "review of all symbols of hate on city property." A closed Episcopal church soon removed two plaques honoring Lee, and Bronx Community College took down busts of Lee and Jackson.

Future plans: Several more memorials remain, including a number of street names that pay tribute to the Confederacy. As The New Yorker notes, it can be hard to get rid of Confederate monuments in the city if they are on private property. There are also powerful organizations, like the United Daughters of the Confederacy, that lobby to preserve them.

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Durham, North Carolina

Demonstrators jump on an Confederate flag replica in reaction to a potential white supremacists rally on August 18, 2017 in Durham, North Carolina.
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The Confederate figures: Confederate General Robert E. Lee along with the Confederate Soldiers Monument (known as "The Boys Who Wore Gray"), which memorialized the soldiers from Durham County who fought for the Confederacy.

Future plans: North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has proposed relocating three more Confederate monuments outside the State Capitol to the Bentonville Battlefield Historic Site, according to a local CBS station.

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Ellicott City and Baltimore in Maryland

Baltimore city workers remove graffiti from the pedestal where a statue dedicated to Robert E. Lee and Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson stood August 16, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland.
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What happened: Baltimore took down four monuments of the Confederacy in August. That same month, in Ellicott City, the Howard County Circuit Court building removed a memorial that bears the names of 92 Confederate soldiers.

A Confederate monument featuring a statue of a Confederate soldier is seen in Hemming Park in the midst of a national controversy over whether Confederate symbols should be removed from public display on August 20, 2017 in Jacksonville, Florida.
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The Confederate figures: Johnny Reb, a character that represented the Confederacy; Confederate General Stonewall Jackson.

What happened: In July 2017, Orlando took down a Johnny Reb statue (which later went to a cemetery). A month later, Daytona Beach removed plaques commemorating Confederate soldiers. Around the same time, St. Petersburg removed a plaque recognizing Jackson, and Gainesville and Bradenton did away with two other Confederate monuments.

Future plans: There are at least 61 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Florida, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. In August 2017, the Florida League of Mayors started considering whether to keep individual memorials.

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Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis Coalition of Concerned Citizens hold a rally where the statue of Confederate general and early member of the Ku Klux Klan, Nathan Bedford Forrest, stands over his grave in Memphis, Tennessee, August 19, 2017.
Reuters

The Confederate figures: Confederate General and early KKK member Nathan Bedford Forrest; Confederate President Jefferson Davis; and Confederate Captain J. Harvey Mathes.

What happened: Two statues of Forrest and Davis were ousted from downtown Memphis parks in December 2017, according to The Commercial Appeal. A bust honoring Mathes was also removed from a park.

Future plans: Tennessee House Republicans have launched an investigation into whether the city violated any laws by removing the monuments. There is also a discussion about moving the graves of Forrest and his wife (which are in a Memphis park) back to New Jersey's Elmwood Cemetery, where they were initially buried.

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Dallas, Texas

Activist with the Dallas Peace Center stand by a statue of General Robert E. Lee.
AP

What happened: From August to December 2017, Dallas' Confederate War Memorial— comprised of four statues and five inscriptions — was removed piece-by-piece from Pioneer Park Cemetery near the Dallas Convention Center. In November, Robert E. Lee Elementary was renamed after Alice Moore Alexander (the name of a local black teacher). The change will officially take effect in the fall.

Future plans: The city will change the names of three other elementary schools named after Cabell, Jackson, and Johnston as well. The schools will institute the new names by fall 2018.

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Austin, Texas

Confederate statutes are removed from the University of Texas early Monday, Aug. 21, 2017.
Eric Gay/AP

The Confederate figures: Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Albert Sidney Johnston; and John Reagan, head of the Confederate States of America Post-office Department

What happened: The University of Texas at Austin removed three Confederate statues from a prominent grassy plaza, The Texas Tribune reported.

Future plans: In 2017, the Austin City Council began the process of renaming Robert E. Lee Road after Azie Taylor Morton, an Austin native and the only black woman to serve as US treasurer, according to KXAN.

Future plans: Charlottesville is still deciding whether to take down a Lee statue, which was the center of the white nationalist Unite the Right rally last August. In the meantime, officials have covered the monument with a black tarp.